Shoe-top form.



No. 756,878. PATENTED APR. 12, 1904.

' I. A. MINZY.

SHOE TO]? FORM.

APPLIOATION FILED NOV. 30, 1903.

N0 MODEL.

Wm jmw e/z dingy Patented April 12, 1904.

PATENT OFFICE.

IRVING A. MINZY, OF BROCKTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

SHOE-TOP FORM.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 756,878, dated April 12, 1904.

Application filed November 30, 1903. Serial No. 183,174. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, IRVING A. MINZY, a citizen of the United States, residing at Brockton, in the county of Plymouth and State of Massachusetts, have invented new and useful Improvements in Shoe-Top Forms, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to a shoe-top form adapted to fill out and maintain in a smooth condition the top portion of shoe-uppers to thereof in a smooth, neat, and attractive condition. Fig. 5 is a view showing the device connected to a low-quarter-filler last.

In the said drawings the reference-numeral 1 designates the body of the shoe-top form, which is constructed economically of leatherboard or other suitable material. This body ismade of a single blank suitably shaped when folded as hereinafter set forth to present the contour illustrated in Fig. 1 of the drawings, which conforms to the shape which the upper part of the shoe-upper assumes when laced or buttoned upon the' foot of the wearer. This blank is folded about and secured to a filler-block 2, the shape of which is made to conform to the open top of the shoe and the upper of the latter when it is buttoned or laced, and the shape and size of the periphery of the filler-block determines the contour of the body 1 when the latter is attached thereto, as shown.

The body 1 is attached at its upper end to the filler-blockQ, being folded therearound, as shown, and secured thereto in any suitable way-for instance, by tacks, as illustrated. The filler-block 2 therefore fills out and gives permanent shape to the upper edge of the body of the device and preferably and as shown projects above the upper edge of the body 1, so as to afford a convenient handhold to facilitate the insertion and removal of the device from a shoe. The filler-block may be and preferably is surmounted by a cap 3 of ornamental appearance, which may be of brass or other suitable metal or material, and has a depending flange that fits about the filler-block and covers and conceals the upper edge of the body 1, as best shown in Figs. 2 and 3 of the drawings. This top piece when the device is inserted into a shoe is exposed above the top of the shoe and is ornamental and attractive to the eye. The shape of the body 1 of the form is such that when the latter is secured at its upper edge to the filler-block it widens out from the line of attachment toward the bottom of the lower portion of said body, as shown, to the end that the shoe upper may be adequately filled out, as shown in Fig. 4 of the drawings, and whereby also the device is held in position within the shoe by the shoe-upper when the latter is laced or buttoned in such manner that it cannot be removed without unlacing or unbuttoning the shoe and whereby the projecting filler-block may serve as a handhold or grasp to facilitate the handling of the shoe. The body 1 is flexible and has free edges 4, separated by a space 5, to permit of the requisite degree of automatic adjustability of the crosssectional form and size thereof to accommodate itself to different sizes of shoe-tops.

The device has an open bottom, whereby it is adapted to fit over low-quarter-filler lasts to fill out the top portion of the upper in which said lasts are arranged, as shown in Fig. 5 of the drawings, in which figure the numeral 6 designates a low-quarter-filler last. The device may be readily inserted into a shoe and its open bottom receive the top of the cone-like part of low-quarter filler, the flexible lower edge of the body 1 fitting over or about such cone-like part, as illustrated.

By my invention I provide a device for the purpose described which is of exceedingly simple and economical construction and which is very useful in properly presenting the top parts of the uppers of shoes in a neat and attractive manner for display purposes and maintain the shape of such part of the shoe when the latter is not in use by the wearer.

At the rear the free edges of the body are cut away immediately below the filler-block 2, as at 7, forming a recess into which the shoe-upper is drawn when laced, as illustrated in Fig. 4, whereby the shoe-form is supported and prevented from slipping down into the shoe when the device is not arranged in connection with a filler-last.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is 1. A form for the top portion of shoe-uppers consisting of a filler-block, and a flexible body, the upper edge of which is attached to said filler-block, said body having free, substantially vertical edges to afford adj ustability IRVING A. MINYZYV Witnesses HENRY E. GODDARD, ARTHUR L. RICH. 

